Ronan picked up the red crystal from his bed and recalled the sensation from before. Instinctively, he willed and tried to absorb the energy from the crystal. A moment later, a massive amount of energy surged through his palm and into his body.

The last time he had absorbed energy from a bunch of blue crystals, it had been a very mild and gentle feeling. Overall, the process had been smooth and easy. He had hardly felt a thing. In fact, he had to put extra focus just to feel the energy absorption and the subsequent changes within his body. The changes in his body had been miniscule to notice.

But this time, it was intense. Almost violent. The energy from the crystal was surging wildly into his body. It was coursing through his body like a raging storm. The process was anything but smooth. It was pure chaos. He did not need to focus to feel the changes this time.

Every minuscule moment, he could feel the rapid, violent transformation his body was undergoing.

Ronan was barely able to hold the crystal for two minutes before the overwhelming onslaught became too much to bear. He loosened his grip, and the remaining crystal clattered onto the floor. It had reduced considerably in size. Only half of the crystal was left.

"Uhh! Uhh!" Ronan let out a couple of deep grunts and collapsed onto the floor.

He was not unconscious, but his body was in extreme pain and agony to support himself. Every fiber, every cell, every tissue, and every inch of his body felt as if it were on fire. As if they were all being stretched, compressed, and morphed into something else entirely.

He gasped for breath, trying to suck in as much air as he could. At that moment, even lifting a single finger felt completely impossible to him.

Ronan continued to lie on the floor for a few minutes before the agonizing pain finally started to recede. A sense of ease and comfort slowly spread throughout his body, and he was able to breathe normally again.

A few minutes later, the pain had eased enough to allow him to move. Letting out another grunt, he pushed his weight up and stood. With the agony finally subsiding, Ronan was at last able to focus on the real changes in his body.

He felt strong. Incredibly so. The minor increase in strength he had experienced after absorbing the blue crystals was only a fraction of what was surging through him right now.

But that was not all. He felt lighter and more flexible. He had a strong gut feeling that he could sprint twice, or probably even thrice, as fast as his original self. Maybe he could jump and touch the ceiling of his room.

Apart from that, he could tell his mind was operating faster, and his thoughts were sharper. He also felt his focus improve significantly. These were the most noticeable changes he was experiencing within his body.

Ronan took a few steps until he stood in front of the window pane, gazing intently at his reflection.

He removed his t-shirt and stood bare chested. There was not a particularly remarkable visible change in his physique. He had gained a little bit of muscle on his skinny frame, but no one would be able to tell the difference just by looking. Perhaps his height had increased by half an inch or an inch at most. These minor shifts were all the changes he could actually see.

But what remained invisible to the naked eye was the raging strength now tightly coiled within his body. He looked around the room and spotted a two foot metallic ruler resting near his pile of books. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He picked up the heavy metal ruler. It was quite sturdy and durable. Holding the ruler at both ends with his hands, he began to apply pressure. He had exerted barely half of his total strength when the metal started to warp and bend. An instant later, it snapped in two.

A wide grin spread across his face. This was really something. He wanted to test how fast he could run, but he obviously could not do that within the enclosed space of his bedroom.

Still, he knew intuitively that he would be incredibly fast. In fact, he was quite possibly the fastest man on Earth right now.

But was this the ultimate limit of his strength? Was this the absolute threshold of how much energy he could absorb from the crystals?

No. He could definitely absorb more. Just not right now. The sudden, massive influx of energy and the rapid modifications it had forced upon his physique had pushed his physical form to its current absolute limit. To its pinnacle.

Had he continued forcefully absorbing the energy without stopping, his physical structure, his cells, tissue, muscles and bones would have given way under the pressure, leaving him grievously injured or probably dead.

But that did not mean he could not push past this barrier in the future. His body simply needed time to get used to these drastic alterations.

He needed to allow his body to fully adapt to the internal shifts. Once his physical form grew accustomed to its new structure, he could safely absorb more energy from the remaining crystals and increase his power once again. However, he was not entirely sure when it would next be safe and appropriate to attempt another absorption.

By the time Ronan was finished, morning had already arrived, and the sun was rising in the east. He had an hour to get cleaned up, dressed, and leave for college.

He could have taken another day off, but he did not want to miss college for two consecutive days. Besides, he was planning to resign from his part time job today. He no longer needed it.

But more pressing than any of that, he now had three solid gold beads that he needed to sell. This was his path to riches, glory and salvation.

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